


Forever And Always

by Infinity_Pain



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dialogue Light, F/M, Found Family, Happy Ending, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28291209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinity_Pain/pseuds/Infinity_Pain
Summary: On the train the difference between a cult and an organization comes down to which way you think the numbers should go. Grace and Simon end up on the right side of that dichotomy.Or, the Apex as found family.Merry Christmas to calamity_christina
Relationships: Simon Laurent/Grace Monroe
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Forever And Always

**Author's Note:**

  * For [calamity_christina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/calamity_christina/gifts).



Simon was crying and Grace didn’t know how to react because no one had ever cried in front of her because tears were a weakness. And Simon had a lot of tears. Still, she did her best to comfort him through his ramblings about Samantha, whoever that was, and to make him feel better. Of course, though she didn’t know why, eventually it worked and he stopped crying thank god because she was about to run out of positive affirmations. And then they were just two kids standing on a bridge neither of whom had a clue what they were doing. 

They both had numbers and they knew that the numbers could go up, or down and neither of them knew which way they were supposed to go, so they guessed. Grace guessed the number was supposed to go down and she guessed right because she was lucky. Neither knew how they were supposed to get the numbers down, from their perspective it was mostly random. But they tried anyway and mostly they didn’t care because they were meeting strange and interesting people and going on adventures.

Simon told her that he’d write a book about all of their adventures when he got off of the train. Neither of them talked about off of the train much, maybe a random mention here or there, but never at length and neither of them ever talked about getting off.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get off the train.” Grace said and it was so vague not even she really knew what she’d meant by it. Her number went up and Simon smirked and said his was lower and the moment passed mostly unnoticed. They didn’t talk about off of the train anymore after that. Grace didn’t have anything waiting for her off of the train, not anything that she wanted. But she knew she wasn’t most people or at least she hoped that. Grace watched those old sitcoms and wondered if that was what family was supposed to be like.

Simon didn’t really have anything waiting for him off the train either. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure that his mother would realize he was missing and his father… was another story entirely. He didn’t want to get off of the train either, not really. But it had been a simple slip of the tongue and now things were awkward because they had to think about getting off of the train. And things were awkward for a few days until one night the two had been staying at some makeshift camp and Grace had brought up the obvious.

“If you want to get off the train you should, I bet your family misses you.” she’d said and Grace really had meant it as sad as it made her. But Simon had simply shook his head and responded to her concern with his own explanation of what he’d meant when he’d talked about getting off of the train.

“It was an accident, I don’t want to get off the train. And I especially don’t want to get off the train without you.” He’d said and meant it just as much. So sometimes they talked about getting off the train and what they’d do together. But most times they’d just talk about what they were going to do on the train the next day. That was easier, to think about things one day at a time, one falling number at a time. For a while it was just the two of them, Grace and Simon with no responsibility to anyone, racing to lower their numbers.

The only issue was that one day they’d stopped getting lower. First it had been Simon and then Grace, and after that neither could get their number lower than three. Neither questioned it, honestly it was a bit of a relief. Neither knew what happened when a number hit zero and neither was eager to find out. It was maybe two or three years like that, Grace and Simon helping denizens, making camps, wandering around aimlessly. Both of them were fourteen when things changed because then they’d met their first kid.

Grace and Simon had a policy against talking to adults, and most kids around their own age were nice to talk to for a while, but had other goals in mind. They never stayed together long, Grace and Simon were each other's only consistency and others were not often brought into the fold. But the two had come across a little boy, younger than they were upon entering the train, and he was so obviously confused. Grace and Simon didn’t know much about the train themselves, but tried to say what they understood.

“Your number is supposed to go down,” Simon had said. “If it gets too high you become the conductor and have to stay on the train doing conductor things forever.” he warned, recounting the ideas that him and Grace had decided on as the way of things. 

“How do I get home?” the kid, who’s name was Micheal, had asked and even though Grace hadn’t really thought much of it she had listened to the beliefs of enough of her fellow passengers in tandem with her own beliefs to give an honest answer.

“Once your number goes down to zero you go home.” Grace said confidently even though she’d never seen it herself. Grace had no obligation to anyone, no one did, that was part of the fun. But the kid was so young and confused and remembering how confusing and dangerous the train could be for someone so young she extended the invitation without thinking. “We’ll help you.” She said and Simon looked surprised but nodded in agreeance so they did. Suddenly, it wasn’t Grace and Simon anymore, it was Grace and Simon and Micheal, they both had obligations to someone else.

It was kind of nice to watch someone elses number fall especially since theirs had been stuck for so long. They also found that once you’d promised one kid you’d help get their number down, you’d kind of promised them all. Slowly but surely more and more kids, some younger and some older clung to the both of them completely secure in the belief that they’d get them home. And they did. Both vividly remember the first time they’d watched a number fall to zero, how Micheal had walked through the door happily, saying that he could see home. 

And then he was gone. The other kids clapped and cheered and Grace and Simon played along despite being terrified. They’d only known Micheal for a year but that had been the longest someone had stayed with them. He had become important to him and they’d promised to fulfill an obligation to him. Neither was sure if they had. That night Simon, unable to sleep, had woken Grace up in the middle of the night and asked her a question.

“Grace, do you really think he went home?” he asked and Grace stared at him bleary eyed without a real answer for his question or for her own before answering anyway.

“Yeah, I have to. We have to.” she said and Simon knew what she meant entirely. They had to believe that the kids we're going home because the alternative, that you were trapped on the train forever or died, was too awful. Even for two people with no real want to get off of the train it was too awful. So they both decided in that moment that they would believe that was what happened. Simon would’ve tried to go back to sleep but Grace said something else.

“We should find a place to stay, like a real home base. I think it’d be easier to help kids get their numbers down if they had a stable place to rest.” she said. Now the two of them had an objective to accomplish. Their new home had to have shelter, stable temperature, it couldn’t already belong to someone obviously, and it had to be large enough to accommodate them. After a while of looking Grace, Simon, and their little family which contained about twelve kids settled in a seemingly abandoned car themed after the inside of a bell tower.

At first they just called it the bell tower car. After about a year and many new kids entering while the old ones left they simply called it home. A routine quickly emerged, one of them would stay at home and wait for the kids, who’d they’d taken to referring to as their fosterlings because Simon had read it in a book once, to wake up while the other went to go look for any kids who needed help. By midday the person who’d left would have returned with any new fosterlings and the other would have gotten the existing ones ready.

After that they’d all go out together to see if anyone needed help, and try to find opportunities to get peoples numbers down. All of it made them both very happy, but it also aged them. Grace and Simon were only sixteen but both felt much older, like they were parents to a veritable horde of children. Of course, all of their fosterlings were well behaved, so it wasn’t exactly anarchy, but it still made them feel old nonetheless. In any case both felt like they were doing real good, making sure that no child experienced the train alone. 

And it gave them a handy excuse as to why their numbers never fell any lower. The two were performing a selfless act, giving up their chance at going home so as to ensure many others could. Staying on the train wasn’t an act of cowardice, it was courage. Oftentimes they’d find children who were with denizens and those children rarely joined. That made sense, Grace and Simon protected children who were lost and alone, no need for that if you’ve already got a crew. It was through these denizens that Simon found out Samantha was well known for her shady dealings.

It made him conflicted, he was happy that she didn’t choose to leave him because of something that he’d done. But it did upset him that she’d conned so many people for her own game and he was just another one on her list. Like before, Grace had comforted him and that had helped. It didn’t matter about Samantha anyhow, he had far more important things to worry about than what she was up to. Those children with denizens were also useful for dispensing new information about the train. Apparently, the woman in charge of the train wasn’t always.

Not a really important fact but an interesting one to be sure. It certainly gave more credence to Grace’s theory that who ever had the highest number became the conductor. She sometimes wondered what that woman would have had to do in order to achieve that position, but she told herself she’d rather not know. There were a lot of things Grace told herself she’d rather not know. When Simon found a little girl named Stacy and brought her in she thought nothing of it. Sometimes the girl said things about her old life, things that would have made Grace call CPS had that been an available service.

Still, the girl constantly expressed interest in going home and the promise that they’d made was to get people home so Stacy’s number went down and she went home. That night Grace couldn’t sleep, she felt so genuinely sick over everything that had happened and she woke up Simon because she didn’t want to be alone with her thoughts.

“Do you think we did the right thing letting Stacy go home?” she asked him and after a long pause he gave his answer.

“I have to. We have to.” he said mirroring the words she’d said to him what had been two years ago at that point. Grace remembered that conversation and decided to agree because it was easier than the alternative. Grace looked at Simon and wondered if she loved him, because what did love mean on the train. She loved all of her fosterlings and they were going to leave her and she was okay with that, she wanted him to. Simon wasn’t going to leave her and yet she felt far more hesitant to love him than anyone else. 

Sometimes kids ran into them though this was more rare as their car was fairly out of the way. At one point some kid in a letterman jacket had entered their car alongside a metal denizen who he seemed to be friends with. Since he seemed fairly self assured and already had a companion Grace and Simon had no expectation of taking him in, usually with kids like those they simply offered directions.

“Hey, do you guys know anything about the train?” he asked and Grace and Simon shared a look before laughing.

“Yeah, what can we help you with?” Grace asked.

“Say, for instance someone wanted to get off the train who doesn’t have a number, would that be possible?” he asked as the metallic girl seemingly scowled at everyone and anyone.

“You mean like a denizen?” Simon questioned and the girl turned her glare onto him.

“I’m a person.” she said and Simon looked awkward.

“I wasn’t trying to question your humanity, just trying to clarify. Anyway, maybe talk to One-One, the conductor, he might know something.” Simon offered and the kid thanked them before heading off. Though neither were sure it was possible, both hoped that the two made their way off of the train together. Fosterlings lowered their numbers and left but as time passed Grace and Simon found fewer and fewer children who needed their help. Perhaps due to that new video from One-One, most people on the train knew what they were doing.

About a year after the conversation with the metal denizen and kid with the letterman jacket the two were back to what they’d been before, Grace and Simon with no obligation to anyone. After having so many obligations to so many kids it felt almost wrong, they couldn’t enjoy the freedom like they had when they were kids. They couldn’t enjoy the train like they had when they were kids. Suddenly they talked a lot more about why their numbers had frozen when no one else's had. Still, they avoided the elephant in the room.

Even though they needed to neither talked about getting off of the train. The world was huge, what if they got off and never found each other again. Furthermore, they’d been gone for years, how would they even go about reentering the real world. They couldn’t just set up shop somewhere, finding food from other cars like they did now. They didn’t talk about getting off of the train because it was difficult and it was easier to not think about it. But of course avoiding the truth gets you nowhere.

Walking along a bridge connecting two cars they’d been casually talking about how much they’d seen and how far they’d gone on this train. And Simon had said that this would all be great in a book he’d write when he got off. It wasn’t lost on either of them the significance of what he’d said. Grace turned to him and smiled before telling him that she’d be first in line to get her copy signed when he did. And suddenly both of them felt okay with getting off the train. They talked about things they knew would never happen, but were fun to fantasize about.

They talked about how when they got off they’d get an apartment in some big city and Simon would write books about the train and Grace would teach a dance class. They talked about how they’d keep in contact with all of their fosterlings to make sure they were okay. They talked about staying together like they always had and though neither of them was sure when they had become more romantic than platonic they talked about that too. About going on dates and seeing movies and being in love.

It wasn’t reality either, but it was a fantasy they could pretend they might one day live. And it was a fantasy the train approved of more than the one of them staying there forever. A few days later, after the two had sufficiently talked about leaving the train their numbers fell again, something they hadn’t seen since they were kids, and they were given what they led countless children to over the years, an exit. Even as they stared down the soft glowing light of the doors they both wondered if they were making the right choice.

“See you on the other side.” Simon said though it came out as more of a question. Grace strengthened her resolve as she looked at him, and then at the door.

“Yeah, you will.” she promised both him and herself. He nodded as they walked towards their exits both silently asking if they really would see each other again. Just as they asked themselves these questions they answered them as well. They would, they had to. Neither would have to wait long to see if their affirmations were correct.


End file.
